Life
by StuckInThePast
Summary: Daniel and Sam discover the meaning of life in more ways than one. T to be safe, but there's nothing more than very descriptive kissing. Sam/Pete, Sam/Daniel. Not for Sam/Pete readers.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, this will take a while to be completed, I'll probably put up a chapter every week, I don't really have time for more because of my GCSEs, I'm in my exam year at school. Hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: It's such a pity But Stargate's not mine All that I own Is the storyline. I wrote this for fun, I didn't get payed, I really need money so It's a terrible shame. If you want to borrow, Please just let me know, And link to my page, I won't say no.

Life

Chapter 1

Sam looked around. No trees, she noticed, and no sand. General O'Neill would have liked this planet, she decided idly.

"Sam, did you hear a word of what I just said?"

Sam looked up at Daniel and grinned sheepishly. She found herself glancing round for Teal'c, and then remembered that she and Daniel were alone this time – Teal'c was visiting Bra'tac, Ishta, Ry'ac and Kar'yn on the world that the Free Jaffa occupied.

"Excuse us," a voice called. Sam and Daniel looked up, and saw a middle-aged man with a boy of about twelve and a young woman, no more than twenty-five, approach.

"We have not seen you before," the man continued. "Do you come from a World Beyond the Ring?"

"Uh, yeah," Daniel said. "We're from Earth – we're peaceful explorers. I'm Daniel Jackson, this is Sam Carter."

"Forgive me," the man said with a smile. "I am the Father. This is the Son, and Ai'ri, our ambassador and our guest from a world from Beyond, just as you come from."

"Hi," Sam said, and Ai'ri and the Son smiled and nodded back.

"Perhaps we could show you to the Settlement," the Son suggested.

"A worthy thought, Son," Ai'ri said.

"Yes, Son," the Father agreed. "A worthy idea indeed. Will you come?"

Sam and Daniel exchanged a glance.

"Sure," Sam said, and they started to head towards the little village on the horizon.

--

Look, it's Ella the purple button... she's only ever been clicked three times and it makes her so sad... click her and you will make her happy!

vvv


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The story's mine, so are all original charachters, but unfortunately the Stargate and Sam and Daniel aren't. :-(

A/N: Thank you for your reviews mamapranayama (first reviewer :-D) WhiteElfElder (hope you enjoy this bit too) and Catty (as you have fed Ella I will feed you) Great to have you reviewing my story, hope you enjoy

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Life

Chapter 2

Daniel was strangely quiet at lunch that day. They'd been offered shelter at the home of the Father and the Son, who resided with, not surprisingly, the Mother and the Daughter.

He hardly spoke a word throughout the meal. He kept shooting concerned glances in Sam's direction, completely unaware that she was doing the same, both feeling unable to say anything in the presence of the Family and Ai'ri. He resolved instead to speak to her when they were alone.

Ai'ri, to Daniel's right, noticed too.

"Doctor Jackson," she murmured. He flashed her a smile. "Daniel," he corrected.

Ai'ri smiled back. "You are very quiet, Danile."

"I've just got a couple of things on my mind." Daniel took a bite of the steak the Mother's maid had placed in front of him, and refrained from commenting on its remarkable similarities to chicken. "Really, it's nothing to worry about."

"It is unlike you."

Daniel gave the young woman an odd look. "How can you know that? We've only just met."

"You talked all the way back from the Ring, and Colonel Carter is clearly concerned for you. What is it that is so wrong?"

"Oh, it's just, it's nothing."

"Of course, Danile. Forgive my intrusion."

Daniel smiled at her and continued to eat.

"You should tell her how you feel," Ai'ri said a minute later.

"What?"

"Colonel Carter," she said simply.

"Oh, yes, you should tell her," the Daughter, aged about seventeen, agreed from Ai'ri's other side. "It is always for the best. True love is always there, but cannot be found until feelings have been shared."

"But I don't," Daniel began. "I don't feel anything like that."

"You do, Danile. Do you know what my name Ai'ri means? It means 'sharing souls'. I can see into your soul, Danile – I have been trained to the sixth level of meditation."

"And I, too, have been trained," the Daughter said. "I am of the study of the heart. I can see that you love her. I have not observed Colonel Carter as closely, but I believe she feels the same for you."

"No! No," Daniel repeated, offering a concerned Sam a reassuring smile. "Sam's engaged," he told the two women. "She's getting married soon – to another man. Not to me."

"Then you should tell her before it is too late," the Daughter said.

--

vv Ella's feeling a little better thanks to mamaprayana, WhiteElfElder and Catty, but she still needs to be fed... what happens when you click her?? vv


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I can dream, but they aren't mine.

A/N: OK, here it is, Chapter 3 - sorry it's been a long time coming, I had so much coursework it took from the minute I got home until I went to bed for the last week, with intervals for dinner and my favourite soap opera - no Stargate time :-( Thanks for reviewing WhiteElfElder, especially for pointing something out that I'd forgotten to consider - it will be worked into Chapter 4, thanks! Hope you enjoy.

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Life

Chapter 3

"Daniel, come in."

Sam sighed when Daniel didn't answer. He was tied up in his work again, of course.

"Daniel?"

Silence.

"Daniel, report."

He always answered to that tone…

"Dammit, Daniel, answer me!" Sam's heart stopped when he still didn't answer. She always worried about him – anyone who'd ever been in charge of a man like Daniel would understand the need to be protective – but what she felt now was solid fear.

"Hey, sorry about that. You know librarians," Daniel's familiar, unfazed yet somehow simultaneously apologetic voice crackled over the radio. Sam let out the breath she didn't know she was holding.

"What have you got?" she asked.

"They have what looks like some sort of trunk – they call it the Chest – and nobody can tell me what it's for. There's a complicated script carved into it; it looks like some form of Arabic. I recognise the phrase "meaning of life" a few times. If this is what I think it is, we could have a huge advantage over the Goa'uld."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked carefully. She didn't want to turn him down, but while it was a beautiful planet, and all the people were lovely – she got on especially well with the Mother, Ai'ri and the Daughter – she was starting to get bored.

"There's a good chance that it can take away all their power."

"Any chance they'll let us take it home?"

There was a pause, and Daniel chuckled. "The Librarian says what's probably their equivalent to "hell no". I don't think we own the intergalactic library card."

--

A/N: Apologies for the rubbish ending - I'm not so good on the cliffhangers.

Ella still needs clicking people!

vvv


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I'm just taking Sam and Daniel out to play, they're not mine. I'm just walking the dogsof TPTB.

A/N: I am very very proud of this chapter, probably some of my best work ever. I really hope you enjoy it. If you don't, let me know so I don't get all pigheaded, but please be nice, no flaming. Thanks for the review WhiteElfElder, (no I do mean the Goa'uld, they were still powerful in season 8, and the Ori were gallivanting off in another galaxy. This might not make complete sense, but I know what I meant... the power of the Goa'uld lies in their worshippers. If it helps, think of it as an ark of Truth, but to be honest Daniel was just speculating.) Seriously, where's everyone gone? I need feeding... and so does Ella. Please R&R... pleease...

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Life

Chapter 4

"You aren't wearing Pete's ring," Daniel said. Sam looked up from where she was changing in the en-suite bathroom to the bedroom they'd been given to share, one with twin beds instead of the one king-size that often caused awkwardness.

"Excuse me?"

"Where's the ring?" Daniel repeated.

"In my jewellery-box at home. I didn't want to lose it."

"Okay, now tell me the truth."

"That is the truth!" Sam cried, resisting the temptation to remind Daniel that she was his CO. "It's very valuable, and Pete would be so upset if I lost it."

"It's what you tell yourself is the truth, but you wear that locket your mother left you, which is worth about, what, two thousand dollars?"

"Okay, that is completely different and you know it."

"Humour me."

Sam stepped out of the bathroom in the nightdress that the Daughter had insisted she wear. Daniel smirked, and Sam glared at him. He moved past her to get into the bathroom so he could change.

"I could never lose it. It's the most precious thing that I own."

_Damn, _Sam cursed herself silently. Daniel didn't say anything. He didn't need to.

"Listen, Daniel, I-"

"You aren't in love with him," Daniel realised.

Sam sighed. "I am, and then I'm not… but still I am."

"Sam. Are you sure you're ready to marry him?"

"I don't know what to _do_!" she suddenly exploded. "I want to marry, and have kids, and have one aspect of my life that is relatively normal. Just _one_! Is that too much to ask? But I don't know that it's _him_ I want to marry. Should I marry him? Should I break it off? I love him, of course I love him, but sometimes I wonder… Dammit, Daniel, what do I _do_?"

_"You should tell her how you feel…"_

"…_she feels the same for you…"_

"…_tell her before it is too late."_

Daniel came out of the bathroom. He wore shorts that came three-fourths of the way down his thighs, they clung to his waist, and hugged his legs, not too tight, not too loose. They looked as if they were made of the same stuff as potato sacks, Sam decided idly. They must be scratchy. He wore no top, and his bare chest glistened with the sweat left as a remnant of the strong temperatures of the world.

Maybe the Daughter's taste wasn't so bad after all.

"Wow," was all she said.

Daniel smiled nervously and went to sit beside her on her bed. His shorts weren't at all scratchy, Sam noticed. They were as soft as flax.

"We were talking about your problem…"

And then she was kissing him, and whoa, he was kissing her back, his cheeks clasped firmly between her hands, his hands on her back, one as low as it could get, the other massaging her shoulder blades, oh that was good, right where it ached, and then suddenly it was running through her hair, and she was snatching the glasses off of his face, and he was just so damn _sexy_ without them…

No.

_Pete_, Sam told herself, trying oh so hard to tear away from his lips. _Pete Pete Pete Pete…_

_Daniel._

Their hands entwined. Daniel's thumb ran across Sam's ring finger – the bare one – and it was just so easy to forget…

NO!

They broke apart at the same moment, unable to believe themselves, stunned, shocked, appalled.

"This is wrong," Sam said, her voice shaking.

"Yeah," Daniel agreed, gently untangling their hands. "You're with Pete, I'm with Angela…"

"There's an… Angela?" It was never good when there was an Angela. Angela was always beautiful, with the deepest blue eyes, the straightest, longest blonde hair, the most perfect chiselled face and the best body. Angela was never into "fooling around". If there was an Angela, it was serious.

"It's not serious," Daniel said quickly. Quickly enough to assure Sam that it was. She sighed.

"We never talk anymore," she said. She remembered her father telling her the same thing a couple of months before. Was that what this, the science, the military, the Stargate program, was doing to her? She had never even told her father there was a boyfriend, let alone a wedding.

There _was_ still going to be a wedding, she decided. If she could have with Pete what she had just shared with Daniel, then her life with him would be perfection itself.

--

Guess what I'm going to say here...


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, here it is. Sorry it's been such a long time coming. Coursework has really been piling up lately.

Disclaimer: Not mine, I'm afraid.

A/N: Thanks so much for your reviews Catty (thank you, that's so sweet! And you'll only have to wait a little while now, but all will be revealed...) WhiteElfElder (I don't want to slap them so much as force their mouths together, breaking their noses in the process if necessary, but I get how you feel. I know te chapters are too short, and if the story was going to be longer then I would work a lot more on that, but I don't have the time anyway and there's hardly any left. I'm glad you're enjoyingit) and Kath (LOL, glad you think it's good even though this isn't really your thing. You don't have to say that, but I'm kind of glad you didn't respond in the way I expected you to!) There's only the epilogue left which should be here within a week, maybe less, I don't really know. Anyway, this chapter isn't my best work, but it is the conclusion to the first storyline - the second will be completed tin the epilogue. Enjoy!

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Life

Chapter 5

Sam glowed as she stepped back into the Settlement library a week later. She and Daniel were, amazingly, on the same terms as they had been before the… before, and Jack had given them a couple more days to finish up. Daniel had gotten a long way with his research on the Chest, and just five minutes ago he had radioed her with the message, "Come quickly, it's almost open."

"Hey, Sam." Daniel didn't look up, but somehow he sensed her presence as she entered the room. He waved for her to take a seat.

"Take a look at this."

He handed her a sheet of paper and continued to scan his reference books.

"Is this what was carved into the Chest?"

"Yeah, I just need to translate the last couple of symbols to be sure, but I think I can get it open."

"That's great!"

Daniel took the sheet back from her and scribbled down three words. He scanned it, then ran his hand round the Chest's brim, finding a catch invisible to the naked eye, which made the lid spring up and release a parchment.

Daniel repeated the sounds of the words under his breath, then wrote them down, chuckling slightly as he did so. Sam leaned over. "Th'aw Ti Tu?" she repeated it a couple of times, laughing as she got it.

"It's probably coincidental," Daniel said. "But this is what it means."

Th'aw Ti Tu.

Meaning Life Live.

"Wow," Sam said. "I never thought of it like that."

"You just… don't," Daniel agreed, staring at the parchment. Then he grinned. "Jack's going to love this."

There are two meanings to life, you see.

The first is 42.

And the second, to live.

--

What do you think happens when you click my lovely purple button?

vvv


	6. Epilogue

Disclaimer: Not mine

A/N: OK, here it is, sorry it's been such a long time coming. Thanks for reviewing Catty (I'm not really all _that_ good! I really appreciate how much you think of my writing) and WhiteElfElder (don't worry, all is not lost! I had intended for the Chest to be something big too, so here's what it did for our wonderful couple.) Anyway, enjoy, I hope this proves a better ending.

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Epilogue

"I broke up with Pete," Sam said as she marched into Daniel's office and cleared up a seat – they'd dropped the need for invitation years ago.

"What? Why?"

"What the Chest said made me think. I need to live, not just to exist. I don't love him and I never did. He's not a bad guy, you know. He deserves somebody who really wants him."

"You didn't love him… but you care for him," Daniel said carefully. From a flicker in Sam's – well, he wasn't exactly sure _what_ flickered, but he knew he was right. "I'm really sorry, Sam. If there's anything I can do-"

"There isn't."

"Well, at least let me be there for you?"

Sam considered. "Okay," she agreed. There was a pause, and then she burst out with, "I don't have any real girlfriends to talk to, you know? It's just not the same as it used to be."

Daniel nodded sympathetically. Their hands touched across his desk, and his thumb massaged her clenched fist. As she relaxed, he could see the marks of her nails in her palm. "I know I'm not Janet, but you can always talk to me, okay?"

Sam nodded.

"So let's talk Pete. Tell me exactly what happened."

"Well, after what happened, I decided that when I saw him I'd just _know_. When he kissed me, I couldn't get you, and us, and what I was throwing away out of my head. Daniel, I… I love you."

Daniel took her hands in his and squeezed gently. "I love you too, Sam."

There was a pause. Then Sam spoke up, her voice shaking. "What about Angela?"

"Like I could concentrate on anything after what we shared." He smiled, and Sam melted. And she knew that she could never be happy with anyone but Daniel Jackson.

--

vvvvv


End file.
